Ai Mikami look.2

Ai Mikami exudes presence in notable works including the NHK period piece “Dear Radiance,” the Netflix series “Chastity High,” and the ABC/TV Asahi drama “My Diary.” Her work is much anticipated next year! For Look 2, she exudes a chic ambiance in a wool double-breasted overcoat on top of a turtleneck style neck warmer. Her alluring gaze and sexy posing for the shoot left an impression. What did she think about the get up?

“Look 2 consists of an overcoat that shows off your silhouette nicely and your look changes depending on whether or not you button it up. Buttoning up will make your waistline tight and look nice; and as the skirt portion opens up the further you go down, it makes your bum look small and can be matched and mixed with all assortments.”

She talks animatedly about the turtleneck style neck warmer. Not only is it warm as a comforter warm, it can be matched and mixed to various styles of garb such as a one piece dress or dress shirt. Just with this addition, the mood of the ensemble will shift toward a refined one.

“I really enjoyed this neck warmer style. It zips up to your chin and is nice; and your hair can be tucked in if you wear your hair long along the bangs. It is a versatile one piece accessory item!”

Ai-san is involved in things apart from pure acting. Last year, she and three of her friends from junior and senior high school set up the fashion mag “Muffin magazine.” One major impetus for this was that she was surrounded by creative friends.

“There are a few reasons why we came to publish ‘Muffin magazine’ but the main reason was that the four of use classmates from high school would often go out on the town together after deciding on a dress code. One of us is a photographer and had been taking photos of our escapades and as we had amassed a substantial photo collection, we thought why don’t we set up a photo journal publication? The other reason was that all of us were involved in the arts somehow whether it was a photojournalist, sculptor/painter, other creator, or performer, and there weren’t that many opportunities for us to show our work, so we thought why don’t we pool our resources and create our own forum? We set a deadline for ourselves and worked all night long on the mag for days before. Rather than feeling an immediate sense of accomplishment after its publication, we were so dog tired we were like ‘did we really finish it? (laughs.)’ Publishing a mag was truly difficult. We tried selling it at a show and the more feedback we got from people, we started to feel that what we had made was a real fashion magazine of a sort and this gave us the resolve to continue with another one. The first one was created along the theme ‘habits of the young’ and the next edition will be focused on the theme ‘habits of young girls.’”

She claims that in creating their magazine, it is best if they engage in it on a passion basis to keep their shared private life fresh. Ai-san has discovered the joy of crafting something from scratch. She became interested in performance when she and her parents went to see a stage play back when she was in junior high school. Before starting on her career as a performer, she wanted to become a producer. What would she want to produce now?

“Since beginning down this path of acting, I no longer wish to pursue producing as much as I wanted to when I was in university, so I just want to do a good job. There are some of those who aspired to become a producer/stage manager and went on to produce their own stage acting troop, so if I were to go down this path I would need to work hard at it.”

Her creativeness continues to broaden.

→ For Look 1, I ask Ai about her work as an actor and about fashion.

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Direction: Shinsuke Nozaka
Photo, Movie: Keiichiro Nakajima
Stylist: Yusuke Yamaguchi
Hair & Make up: Kenji Toyota
Text: Saki Shibata